And why the hell not?
Here’s what the Peabody Awards Committee had to say:
Doctor Who (BBC America)
The BBC Cymru Wales
Seemingly immortal, 50-years-old and still running, this engaging, imaginative sci-fi/fantasy series is awarded an Institutional Peabody for evolving with technology and the times like nothing else in the known television universe.
In case you don’t know about the George Foster Peabody Awards, they’re a Very Big Deal. Here’s how their website puts it, and it’s being modest:
First presented in 1941, the George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished achievement and meritorious service by broadcasters, cable and Webcasters, producing organizations, and individuals…
Selection is made each spring by the Peabody Board, a 16-member panel of distinguished academics, television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts…
The competition is open to entries produced for alternative distribution, including corporate, educational, home-video release, CD-ROM and World Wide Web. In general, such non-broadcast or non-cable entries should be publicly available.
Other scripted winners 0f the 72nd Awards include:
Southland (TNT)
John Wells Production in association with Warner Bros Television
Shot on location in Los Angeles neighborhoods both posh and blighted, focusing on characters whose personalities have become more nuanced by the season, it’s a gritty, weekly ride-along, as convincing as cop drama gets.
Switched at Birth (ABC Family)
Prodco, Inc. in association with ABC Family
What could be a reality-show premise – two families discovering their teenage daughters, one of whom is deaf, were switched at birth – is explored with honesty, imagination and humor in this superior family series.
Game Change (HBO)
Playtone Productions and Everyman Pictures in association with HBO Films
A behind-the-scenes account of what happened after John McCain picked Alaska’s charismatic, combative governor to be his running mate, it’s a story worthy of Euripides and Robert Ripley.
Louie (FX)
Pig Newton, Inc., FX Productions
Louis C.K.’s self-reflective, shape-shifting series about a single, show-biz dad is daring and endearing, scandalous and sensitive, a milestone of comedic reach and candor.
Girls (HBO)
Aptow Prod and I am Jenni Konner Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Creator/star Lena Dunham’s singular, decidedly unglamorous take on sex and the single girl and the city reverberates with anxiety, angst, insight and rueful humor.\